6 things for 2016: 6 month report

And just like that, it's July and 2016 is halfway through! Time to check in on my goals for the year and make plans for the next six months.

Source

More yoga - My approach to yoga has changed this year so instead of taking a one hour class once a week, I have been fitting in 15 to 20 minute sessions at home a few times a week. YouTube makes it really easy to select a routine based on style or length. I recommend videos from Sarah Beth Yoga (I've done her 7 day challenge a few times), Cole Chance at Yoga TX, and for a good laugh and lots of upper body conditioning between the down dogs, Tony Horton.

Exercise in the morning - Hitting the snooze button is a constant battle for me, so waking up with enough time to fit in a full workout before heading to work happens infrequently. Most days, I get in a mini workout of sorts; either yoga or some HIIT exercises, and then finish up after work with a run, long walk or more HIIT. I'm going to call this goal a work in progress.

Volunteer - I just finished up a week volunteering at a summer camp that teaches kids with different abilities how to ride bikes. All the campers start in the gym on specially designed bikes with rollers on the back that get them used to pedaling and slight variations in balance. As the week goes on, the rollers get thinner on the edges so the riders have to work more on balance until they are ready to ride on two wheels. The camper I was paired this week alternated between loving being on the bike to hating it as soon as he felt like he was going to fall. On Friday, he made one complete lap around the track without stopping. He was crying for part of it, but didn't stop pedaling which was really amazing to see! It might be hard to top bike camp, but I would really like to find a weekly or bi-weekly volunteer opportunity in the coming months.

Make time for hobbies - If going on walks and listening to podcasts counts as a hobby, I am doing pretty well with this one. That wasn't as much of a hobby of mine back in January when I wrote these goals, but the long summer evenings are too nice not to take advantage of! The original intent of this goal was to spend more time blogging, baking and crafting, three things I enjoy doing but often get lost in the shuffle. Like the exercising in the morning goal, this one is still very much a work in progress but I am on pace to blog more than last year, I created and hung up some art in the apartment and have knit a few baby items to give as gifts.

Travel every month - I haven't traveled for pleasure every month, but between work and play I am pretty close to hitting this goal for the first half of the year. The first real trip of the year was to New Orleans, followed by a weekend in Charlottesville, a week in Atlanta for work, camping in Tennessee and another quick work trip to central Ohio. I'm looking forward to traveling for fun this month with a weekend trip to Annapolis to celebrate Keizo's birthday and the end of his summer class, followed by a trip to Seattle for a dear friend's wedding later in the month. This is definitely a goal where it's better to plan in advance; picking dates and making reservations ahead of time to get it on the calendar, and then filling in the details as the trips get closer. 

Date my husband - Memorable dates this year have included a midnight walk through a blizzard followed by sledding amidst a bunch of kids on a slick hill the next day; eating sushi burritos and visiting the Wonder exhibition at the Renwick Gallery; several weekend bike rides; ice cream and board games at Moorenko's; and most recently dinner at Daikaya followed by an outdoor movie in Farragut Square on a lovely summer evening.

I don't know if I was fully conscious of it before, but all my goals for this year are really focused on moving beyond the day to day and enjoying life. It bothers me that I have to be so intentional about having fun sometimes, but I suppose like anything, you get better at it as you go! 

Recipe Roundup 6/2016

It's been a while since a 'recipe roundup,' and we've had several delicious dinners (and lunches) lately that I want to brag about, oops, I mean share.

Recipes are listed left to right, top to bottom.

Curry Chickpea Salad - We kicked off summer with this versatile recipe during a picnic dinner date at the park. The chickpeas taste just as good in pitas as they do over greens.

Spiced Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes - This is a repeat Blue Apron recipe that happened to fit well with the contents of our CSA box last week: sweet potatoes, chard and snap peas. As more of a "one-pot wonder" type of cook myself, Blue Apron recipes can sometimes seem a bit fancy. Sometimes the little bit of extra effort and dirtied cooking vessels are worth it, sometimes not. All of the recipes here are definitely worth it.

Turkey Meatballs with Parsley Pesto (similar meatball recipe) - Another recipe featuring a CSA ingredient: parsley (and no small amount of it either!) The pesto recipe was from the newsletter that comes in our box every week and made enough to cover an entire box of pasta. The turkey meatballs were good too, and had some extra veggies thrown as well.

Nepalese Chicken Tarkari - Another Blue Apron repeat recipe featuring spinach from the CSA box.

General Tso's Chicken - Yet another Blue Apron recipe featuring CSA ingredients: snap peas and green onions. One of the best things about making these recipes again, aside from the fact that they are delicious, is that they can easily be doubled and the leftovers taken into work for lunch the next day. While none of my co-workers actually asked me if this was take-out, I like to think I could have easily convinced them that it was.  

In addition to the ingredients above, our CSA has featured a lot of lettuce and other leafy greens. Salads are a no brainer, but does anyone have other ideas? We've made summer rolls, and added lettuce to stir fries, but we get a huge bag of it every week and it's definitely a challenge to keep up.

Thanks for reading!

Camping in the Smokies

There's nothing like sleeping on the ground and not showering for four days to make you appreciate the comforts of home. Comforts like warm showers and clothes that don't smell like sweat, bug spray and campfire. A soft bed, solid walls and no chance of waking up to bears rooting around for food in the kitchen. 

That introduction makes it sound like I had a horrible time camping in the Great Smoky Mountains over Memorial Day when I really enjoyed everything up until the last night. We had great weather the whole time, spent the better part of our days hiking surrounded by lush forest, and shared some tasty meals over the campfire.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited National Park in the United States. We saw just a small portion of its eastern side. We arrived a little before dinner time on Friday and set up our home base in the Cosby campground. On Saturday, we set out from our campsite to hike part of the Appalachian Trail to the Mt. Cammerer lookout tower. The first part of the trail was very steep, but we were rewarded with an amazing panoramic view from the tower. We also saw a lot of wildlife: snails, birds, a rattlesnake and two black bears! The bears were in a grassy area on the right side of the trail when we approached, and the smaller of the two took off to the right as soon as he heard us. The larger (mama?) bear was much less concerned about our presence and ambled across the trail in front of us, ending up about 100 feet off the trail to our left. After a few moments of hoping both bears would end up on one side of the trail or the other, we got took out car keys, started clapping loudly and walked straight through the middle. In all of the excitement, no one remembered to take a photo.

Top to bottom, L to R: Our campsite; group shot; foliage; Clingman's Dome; view from Clingman's Dome; campfire; Mt. Cammerer lookout tower; view from close to the highest point in Tennessee.

On Sunday, we drove through Gatlinburg, TN to the park's main entrance and joined hoards of other people at the visitor's center. The main street of Gatlinburg is a boardwalk/Vegas Strip combination of shopping, motels and themed restaurants. We were very glad to have picked another place to stay, far from the crowds of people. After the visitor's center, we drove into the park towards Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. About 3/4 of a mile from the parking lot at Clingman's Dome, we decided to join the other people parking on the side of the road and hiking the last bit. At the top is a space-age lookout tower, which we climbed in a heavy mist. We couldn't see much at all, but we did get to take one of my favorite photos from the trip: Keizo and I in front of a cloud (middle row). We did a short hike not too far from the base of the lookout tower which took us down below the clouds and through several different landscapes - rain forest, pine groves and grassy fields - before trekking back to the car and joining the line of traffic exiting the park in the late afternoon.

Our last evening proceeded like the two previous ones as we made dinner and s'mores over the campfire and turned in at very reasonable hour when watching the fire no longer held our interest. Around 3:00 AM there was a very loud, terrified scream not too far from our tent. I was instantly wide awake, but when I poked Keizo to ask if he had heard it, he hadn't heard a thing! We heard other people moving around in the campsites next to us, and after a quick trip to the bathroom where we met other campers who had seen two bears moving through the campsite, we tried to go back to sleep. Sleeping was challenging though, as further away people were banging on dumpsters and yelling.

Although tired from the lack of sleep, I was glad when morning came and we started to pack up our things for the trip home. We learned that the terrified scream was caused not by a run-in with a bear, but by a girl who had been spooked when she spotted a whole family sitting in their car and staring at her as she returned from the bathroom (the family had seen the bear and retreated to the comfort and safety of their vehicle). We thought this was it until we spotted the mess at a campsite about three away from ours. The food hadn't been locked up as instructed and the place was torn apart; we have no idea where the people went who were staying there, and can only guess that bears visited before 3 AM when we were woken up by the screaming. Surely we would have heard something otherwise? It was a rather sobering end to an otherwise great trip. I am looking forward to camping again, but hopefully in a place with fewer bears.

Currently - June '16

Hello June! Thank you for bringing summer to the DC area. May was a pretty dreary month around here, but it ended with some high notes, including a 17 mile bike ride around DC streets closed to traffic with 7,000 other people and a 4 day camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountains over Memorial Day weekend. There's a clear "summer" theme throughout this post, and checking in with others over on Anne and Jenna's blogs, it seems I am not alone in celebrating the arrival of a new season.

planning - Summer activities!  I haven't been to a baseball game yet this season, there are several beer gardens in town, and I'd want to block of a few weekends for another camping trip or visit to the beach. My parents, brother and several other members of my extended family will all be in town for a long weekend in July as well, and I am looking forward to seeing them for the first time since Christmas!

enjoying - Summer beers. With the temperatures hitting the 90's midday, lighter, fruity beers are where it's at. I've consumed a fair share of Leinenbugel's Summer Shandy over the years, and last summer I was introduced to their other varieties. I'm not a huge grapefruit fan, but I do like their Grapefruit Shandy.

buying - Summer CSA subscription. I've wanted to try a CSA for years, and now that Keizo lives here, I don't have to worry as much about not being able to use all of the vegetables before they go bad. We signed up for a weekly box from Spiral Path Farm, one of the vendors at the Downtown Silver Spring Farmer's Market. We pick up our first box on Saturday!

craving - More time, or is it energy? How about both, just to be on the safe side? I've just come through some very busy weeks at work, and it feels despite all of my efforts, I am barely staying on top of things. The weeks ahead look better, but there are certainly some adjustments that need to be made so I can spend more time doing the things I want and like to do and less time feeling tired and overwhelmed.

pinning - Given my recent stress levels, I have been drawn to motivational quotes, and given the sudden changes in temperature from 50-60's to 90's I need all the fashion inspiration I can get. I've forgotten about how to wear fewer than three layers and a scarf at a time!

Currently - May '16

This post has been in draft form for a week, and I've opened it and stared at it at least three times, adding a few words here and there. My writer's block/all around funk was not helped by the weather--several consecutive days of cold and rain, unbecoming of May. 

Thankfully this weekend has been sunnier, and my favorite link-up hosted by Anne and Jenna is still open!

Recipe

celebrating - One of the more exciting moments of the week was ordering a tent online. I've been wanting to go camping for more than a few years now, and one reason I haven't been is not owning any gear. Step 1 accomplished! The tent should arrive on Wednesday, and I plan to celebrate by setting it up in the living room and spending the night in it, just for fun.

reading -  I just finished "The Girl on the Train."  It's pretty dark and it took some perseverance to get through the first few chapters, but once I was over the hump I read the rest of it over the course of a weekend.

pondering - Fitness goals for May. Last month's focus on running worked really well in terms of helping me be more active and increasing my fitness levels, but I ended up skipping the race as it was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like the $25 registration fee was worth being miserable. There will be more races in the future I'm sure, but I already miss the motivation factor!

sipping - I've gotten into a pretty serious 2-3 cups of coffee/day habit, which as long as my last cup is at or before 3:00 PM doesn't seem to affect my sleep patterns too much, but I think I would be better off with 1-2 cups. I am also pretty sure I haven't been drinking as much water as I should lately. The water consumption will probably increase naturally as it gets warmer, but until then I took my liter sized water bottle into work to help remind me to sip more throughout the day.

going - There are two pretty great adventures coming up to help kick-off the summer: camping over Memorial Day weekend in Great Smoky Mountain Park with our friend Scott, and going to see Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats a few weeks later at Wolf Trap. 

This past week may not have been as productive as I would have liked, but now I have a tent on the way and tickets to a great concert!

Currently - April '16

It's starting to look a lot like spring around here! All the green leaves and beautiful blooms are a sight for sore eyes, and an encouraging reminder that brighter (warmer) days are ahead. I'm hoping the temperatures will catch up soon too.

I am too late to officially be part of this month's Currently link up with Anne and Jenna, but their blogs are always worth a read so be sure to visit.

making - Running my fitness focus for the month. I signed up for a 5K on May 1, and have not been in the habit of running regularly since I dislocated my knee last July. I found a training plan online, wrote it all out on the calendar in the kitchen, and while I haven't made all the workouts happen, I have run twice during each of the last two weeks. Can't even begin to remember the last time that happened!

wishlisting - Something big (new phone) and something small (water resistant picnic blanket). I'm not really ready to part with my yellow 5c, but I do envy the big shiny screen and crisp photos on Keizo's 6. Target (of course) had some great picnic blankets a few summers ago with really cute prints, but I haven't seen any I like quite as much since.

cleaning - No urges to do any major spring cleaning, but I'm hoping that it will soon be time to put away the sweaters and coats until fall. Along the same vein, I'd like to find some quick, easy ways to switch up the decorating a little to reflect the season a bit more.

posting - Something other than a Currently post! You can read a quick recap and see some photos from our New Orleans trip here.

tasting - Cocktails. I have developed an unexpected love for Old Fashioneds, so the Sazeracs we had in New Orleans appealed to me a lot as well. We also tried and really liked the Foreign Affair (gin, white wine, vanilla) at Delmonico. At home, we've made these Peachy Moscow Mules, which are great if you don't mind some pulp at the bottom. We don't drink every night, I swear!

New Orleans

Back in January, I saw an ad for a Southwest Airlines sale and clicked through to see what they were offering. There were a few deals to cities I'd never been to, and after deciding on some dates and looking at the number of stopovers, Keizo and I purchased tickets to New Orleans.

We arrived around 9 PM last Saturday and left just after lunch on Tuesday, which ended up being a good amount of time to get oriented, learn a bit about the city's history and indulge in its rich food, drink, and music.

We stayed in a rental apartment a few blocks from the French Quarter in Faubourg Marigny, which aside from being located along the route the horse drawn carriages took from the stables to the Quarter worked out perfectly (I've gotten pretty used to living above the metro in DC, but horse hooves on pavement were pretty disruptive). We enjoyed breakfast at two neighborhood places, each less than a block from the apartment and were surrounded by traditional, colorful houses.

Highlights of the trip included watching and then participating in an Easter parade, a bike tour that took us to a cemetery and introduced us to a sliver of City Park, and the live music on Frenchman Street. Our last day, we saw a bit of the Garden District, but we'd love to go back to spend more time in City Park as well as experience more of the history and nature outside of the city.

Top to bottom, L to R: Streetcar near CBD, shrimp po'boy; enjoying our beignets, Jackson Square, shrimp and grits, hand grenades on Bourbon Street, cemetery and joining in the Easter parade.